Tees Please

An NZ couple has launched a line of tasteful tourist tees in Canada. Last year, Lauren McKee and Wynne Pirini left home, and their respective careers in accountancy and construction, to start a creative business in Vancouver. “There are a couple of lines in New Zealand that do that pretty well,” says Pirini. “They’re iconic, and give you a sense of closeness to home. They have a twist in the image you can’t get from standard souvenir T-shirts. And we noticed there was nothing quite like that here, which was quite surprising.” The couple’s business – Ningnong – sells high-quality fitted tees with graphic images of Vancouver and its surrounds. “The graphics represent local landmarks,” says stockist Graham Ling, “but they don’t have that local, tourist-y kind of feel.” McKee and Pirini eventually hope to extend their business to include tees inspired by other Canadian cities.